Governor of
Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has stated the reason he travelled to South Africa,
despite the protests that had greeted the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians
resident there.
The Kano
Emirate Council had shared the photographs of Fayemi, alongside the Kaduna
State Governor Nasir El-Rufai; and the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi, at
the Africa in the World conference holding in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Another
global event, the World Economic Forum on Africa, is also holding in Cape
Town between September 4th and 6th.
The WEF was
boycotted by the Federal Government in protest against the xenophobic attacks
visited on Nigerians resident in South Africa.
Nigerians
had expressed concerns about the presence of some public figures in South
Africa at a time citizens were protesting across the country against the
xenophobic attacks.
Since the
Federal Government had withdrawn its participation at the WEF, many Nigerians
who saw the photographs of the three public figures on Twitter had expressed
outrage, thinking the emir and the governors were at the Cape Town forum.
Fayemi has since denied attending the World Economic Forum.
A statement
by his Senior Special Assistant (Electronic Media), Kanmi Olatoye,
declared, “Contrary to some misleading online reports, Ekiti State
Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, was not at the World Economic Forum in South
Africa.
“Rather,
the governor is in South Africa to honour an invitation by a long-time friend
and one of Nigeria’s most celebrated journalists, Mr. Dele Olojode, at
the Africa in the World Festival of Ideas, which held in
Stellenbosch, a university town in South Africa’s Western Cape province.”
Continuing,
the statement asserted that, “More importantly, the event already held before
the decision of the Federal Government to boycott the WEF programme.”